Chongqing - The 4th China "White Emperor City" International Poetry Festival will be held in northeast Chongqing's Fengjie County from Dec. 14 to 16, the opening ceremony of which will also be broadcast live on iChongqing's social media platforms, according to a press conference of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government Information Office Tuesday.

Hu Yunqing (C), a member of the Standing Committee of CPC Fengjie County Committee, and Qin Dingbo (L), deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Culture and Tourism Development Commission, attend the press conference.

Qin Dingbo, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism, introduced the great volume of poetry written in Fengjie by poets from over the ages. The cultural genes and protection of poetic heritage will be imparted through the Fengjie Poetry Festival, which demonstrates the cultural confidence of Fengjie poetry culture.

Qin Dingbo, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism, photo credit to Chongqing Release

At the same time, the festival is a great opportunity to display the advantages of the Three Gorges, adhere to integration in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and construction of the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor, as well as promoting the deep integration of cultural and tourism resources within the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, in line with high-quality development.
 
In addition, speedy recovery in the cultural tourism industry requires innovative promotional strategies, an insistence on brand development, and the further organization of branded promotional events to publicize urban and travel images with the aim of attracting tourists in greater numbers.

The poetry festival features the three parallel themes of Chinese poetry culture, poverty alleviation through consumption, and the optometric industry's green development.

As for the opening ceremony, there will be four chapters of dances, acrobatics, and sit-com drama performances specifically designed to help the audience better appreciate the beauties of poetry arts from thousands of years ago. Outstanding participants from the previously held poetry challenges and competitions will also be awarded during the evening gala.

Thousands of artists recite poetry in the formation of the Chinese character Kui, which used to be a prefecture with its seat located in the present-day Fengjie County.

Known as one of China's four "Homes of Navel Oranges," Fengjie has also been actively pushing for poverty alleviation through consumption by building on its unique strengths in producing some of the best navel oranges in the world. The "2020 China (Fengjie) Citrus Industry Coordinated Development Conference," "2nd China (Fengjie) International Navel Orange Expo," "Fengjie Navel Orange Orchard Opening Festival," and the "Citrus Industry Quality Development Forum" will all take place around the time of the poetry festival.

An orchard of Fengjie Navel Orange.

What's more, a series of discussion panels and forums on the optometric industry's quality development is also expected to bring more talents, capital, technologies, and information to the county of Fengjie.

A local eyeglasses brand.

To comply with the relevant epidemic control and prevention measures, people coming from medium- and high-risk areas are required to go through rigorous anti-epidemic procedures. The total number of guests and visitors attending this year's event has also been largely scaled-down compared with previous editions.

However, the opening ceremony will be broadcast live on iChongqing's social media platforms in both Chinese and English, in a bid to help the poetry festival reach a wider audience in its domestic and overseas markets. So if you are one of those people who couldn't make it in person to Fengjie at the time, you could follow iChongqing's Facebook and YouTube accounts and watch the live stream. 

The Chinese Poetry Society awarded Fengjie the Chinese Poetry City.

The Chinese Poetry Society sponsors this year's event, China Fruit Marketing Association, China Optometric, and Optical Association, Chongqing Municipal Culture and Tourism Development Commission, Chongqing Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Commission, CPC Fengjie County Committee, Fengjie County People's Government.

White Emperor City, or Bai Di Cheng in Chinese, is also called Baidi Temple, located on Baidi Mountain at the mouth of Qutang Gorge, the beginning of the Yangtze River Three Gorges. It's said that a separatist general in the late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD) claimed himself the King of Shu here and made Bai Di Cheng the capital city. He called himself the White Emperor because he once saw white fog rising from a well of the mountain that looked like a white dragon, giving the city the name - White Emperor City.